This study is about the ‘paradigm’ which works as a theoretical base for planning and managing elderly housing. For this purpose, this study surveyed published research works, and analysed the contents and the paradigms of the researches. This is based on the literature survey, and surveyed 66 research works published in the last 8 years. The result of the survey tells us that almost all of the research works done by Korean scholars are based on the rational approach to the design of elderly housing. They emphasize ‘functional rationalism’ ‘technical perfection’ ‘reasonable program’ ‘economy and market’, etc. However, such qualities as‘character of human being’ ‘depth of existence’ ‘identity of culture’ ‘speciality of place’are not emphasized. This means that paradigms used by Korean scholars are biased, and are far from the plural culture characterizing 21 st century. This study, therefore, analysed new paradigms appeared on the recent research works about housing environment, and suggests several new paradigms which would be essential for future planning of elderly housing.

This study was conducted to explore the impacts of involvement in the Vietnam War on the self-esteem of the veterans in their later lives. In this study, 14 Korean male Vietnam War veterans from 55 to 63 years old were asked about the impacts of their war experiences on their self-esteem. From the analysis of the in-depth interviews the following conclusions were drawn: First, the veterans perceived that their self-esteem improved with both internal and external impacts of their activities in Vietnam. The internal aspects that improved the veterans' self-esteem were recalling their positive memories of Vietnam War, such as being on duty at a war front for the sake of our country, doing volunteer work for the villagers, and becoming a masculine heroic figure in the family legend. The external aspects were positive attitudes and responses toward their war activities from their family, friends, and neighbors. Second, they also felt persistently frustrated with their recurring memories of involvement in killing human beings, experiences of negative family and social responses, and the side effects of herbicidal cyanide they suffer. In this article, the following suggestions were made. First, standardized images and good-will episodes of the Vietnam War need to be provided by the government, in order to improve public images on the veterans. Second, intensive adjustment programs for the families of older veterans in special needs should be developed in collaboration with various veterans' societies and family counseling institutions, so that the spouses and children can be relieved from tension-laden contacts with the veterans and prevent violent incidents.

In this study, an enhanced marriage preparation program is introduced. The program has recently been systematized through adjusting and updating different existing marriage preparation programs. The proposed program consists of six main sessions, organized into three 2-session sets. Through sessions 1 and 2, couples preparing for marriage are to focus on marital life by planning their lives as husbands and wives. They also discuss how to build a happy marriage. In sessions 3 and 4, the couples are to discuss how to organize their activities so 3s to improve the quality of their relationships. Finally, in sessions 5 and 6, the couples learn practical skills necessary for a happy marriage. This Program has been implemented at NGOs to Promote wholesome wedding ceremonies and healthy marriages for single men and women who are preparing to get married. This program should be developed further to help build strong families.

To examine group differences among four groups divided by asgression/victimization status, 655 4th graders living in Seoul reported their perceptions of peer aggression, peer victimization, personality traits, parent attachment, and their parents' marital conflict. Peers of the subjects also reported their perceptions of peer aggression and peer victimization. Based on the scores of peer aggression and peer victimization, each child was classified into one of the four groups: nonvictimized aggressors, aggressive victims, passive victims, and normative contrasts. For boys, nonvictimized aggressors were more sociable/active than both aggressive and passive victims. Aggressive victims were more shy/emotional than nonvictimized aggressors and normative contrasts, and were exposed to the highest parental marital conflict. For girls, passive victims were the least sociable/active among the four groups, and showed lower attachment to fathers than normative contrasts. Both aggressive and passive victims were more shy/emotional than nonvictimized aggressors and normative contrasts, and normative contrasts were exposed to the lowest parental marital conflict.

The major purpose of this study was to investigate purchasing behavior of environmental products by Korean consumers, which will ultimately help foster sustainable consumption. Environmental consciousness, environmental behaviors, level of awareness of environmental products, and purchasing of environmental products were examined. Mean differences between purchasers and non-purchasers of environmental products were compared in terms of environmental consciousness and behaviors, and the level of awareness of environmental products. A survey was conducted on 310 consumers in the greater Seoul metropolitan area. The data were analyzed by frequencies, percentages, logistic regression, and t-tests using a variable for interval scale and a variable for nominal scale. There were significant mean differences between purchasers and non-purchasers of environmental products on three variables of environmental consciousness and behaviors. Those who were educated on environmental issues showed a higher preference in purchasing environmental products. Among socio-demographic variables, the income level was the only variable that showed a significant mean difference between the two groups. Also, there was a remarkable difference in purchasing behavior between the two groups. For the purchasers of environmental products, the purchasing decisions took into account environment-friendliness of products. Non-purchasers of environmental products put more emphasis on price or quality of products. The results of the logistic regression analysis indicated that those who had higher education, who viewed environmental pollution as a serious problem, and who are more cognizant of the environmental labeling tend to purchase more environmental products.

This study examined attitudes toward older adults among a sample of young (496 Participants), midlife (200 participants), and older adults (115 participants). The results indicate that attitudes of the three generations toward older adults were modest in score, being neither positive nor negative. The older adults' attitudes were the most positive regarding elderly people. In other words, each generation of people showed different attitudes toward older adults. There was also a significant interaction effect between generation and gender. Middle aged women were the most negative toward the elderly, yet older women were the most positive. In addition, there were differences among generations in the variables that are related with the attitudes toward older adults. The attitudes were positively correlated with relationship with their grandparents for young adults, whereas care giving stress was significantly related for midlife adults, and the level of preparedness for old age (physical, emotional and economic) was a strong predictor for older adults.

The study examined the shift in the attitudes of college students regarding familial gender roles between 1991 to 2002. The results are as follows. (a)There were changes toward the egalitarian direction in familial-related gender role attitudes between 1991 and 2002, in both male and female college students. (b)Yet, despite of these changes toward egalitarianism, Female colleges students exhibited the more egalitarian familial gender role attitudes than their male counterparts, both in 1991 and 2002. (c)The shift toward more egalitarian attitudies was most pronounced in couples' equal participation in decision making, the sharing of housework, and women's participation in labor force. however, the shift toward egalitarian attitudies was less pronounced in the issues concerning outside home activities of the mothers with infants. Based on the results, implication for the future family and family education programs were discussed.

This study is a part of three year project of “A Study on the Development, Evaluation ＆ Outreach of Marriage Preparation Program”. The purpose of this study is to analyse the unmarried and married couples' attitude about marriage and family, marriage preparation status, their needs of marriage preparation program and ingredients of marital happiness to developing base line data of the marriage preparation program. The result showed that communication ＆ conflict resolution, financial management, relationship characteristics are the major contents area to be considered to develop marriage preparation program. Critics and recommendation for need assessment and educational methods were added.

This study was performed by the literature review on housing of the aged in Korea with social constructionism perspective. This kind of research may be utilized as a theoretical framework for performance of any systems of housing for the aged. In terms of structural context, the value of conventional custom of filial piety thoughts and duty for family are being collapsed, which nay be suitable to the change of society, should be considered for positive acceptance of changes in ideology. In terms of institutional context, a method to grope for housing for the aged should be established through amicable cooperation between organizations of legalization concerned. In terms of organizational context, there is no organization that exclusively concern housing for the aged until now, thus, development of concrete manual is required for jobs of service in current department of policy for the aged. In terms of operational context, the service may include the understanding of characteristics of the aged and design of housing may also change the service of administration, and as cooperation in the local community care systems may change the service to the aged in the field. Connection of these services and operation of these organizations nay be required in the field to manage housing. Finally in terms of intersubjective context, as the form and method of housing management service is important, with understanding of the social meaning and importance on the role of manager.

This study was conducted to find out general status of family strength and self-esteem perceived by adolescent children. The major findings are as follows: 1 ) Adolescent children generally perceived their families as strong. Important factors that affected family strength were parents' level of education, economic status, father's religion, and parents' marital status. 2) Adolescents also evaluated their self-esteem positively, in general. Family type, father's level of education, economic status, father's religion, parents' marital status and mother's employment outside home were important factors that influenced adolescents' self-esteem. 3) The family strength and self-esteem as perceived by adolescents were positively correlated. That is, the more highly the adolescents estimated their family strength, the more likely they had high self-esteem.

The purpose of this study is to explore a life-supportive housing alternative for single-parent family, focused on cohousing. Single-parent family is considerably increasing according to diverse social changes. In foreign countries, for instance, Scandinavian countries where dual-income households and single-parent families occupy comparatively higher proportion of the whole households, cohousing has been implemented as one of the life-supportive housing alternatives. Cohousing community has been developed aiming to reduce burden of housework, child-care and loneliness through mutual support amongst inhabitants. Opinions of single-parent families are described in this study in order to explore any possibility of development of cohousing for single-parent families for their well-being in Korea. The study was fulfilled by intensive interviews with 4 heads of single-parent families as well as inhabitants of collective housing and cohousing in Korea and foreign countries.

The purposes of this study were to examine the time use on weekdays and weekends by the time amount of each activities and compare time amounts of single parent with that of two parents family. So two methods were applied, one was secondary data analysis ,the other was deep-interview. The major findings of analysis of time use were as follows; 1) Mothers in single parent family used significantly less time amount of household labor and family care than them in two parent family 2) Fathers in single parent family used significantly more time amount of household labor but used significantly less time amounts of family care than them in two parent family And 3) Mothers in single parent family used significantly more time amounts of household labor and family care than fathers in single parent family. The results of deep-interview were as follows; roughly the amounts of household labor time, family care time, leisure time were of little quantity and absence of spouse, family size, family life cycle stage, economic condition, sex role identity, psychological factor maybe seemed important.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the difficulties, conflicts, and communications between female-headed single parents and their children, their child rearing methods and attitude, and the political suggestions for the welfare in those families. The in-depth interviews were conducted for 7 women in Gyonggi-Do and Chungnam-Do on March 3-27, 2003. The interviewees were selected for the mothers whose children were enrolled either elementary schools or middle schools. The contents of interviews were receded to be analyzed by qualitative method. The results were as follows; first, female-headed single parent families were in low economic status with unstable employment condition. Secondly, women in that families were confronted with psychological problems because of their multiple roles and low income. Third, although they had a controlled child rearing method, they used much reinforcement and praise. Thirdly, they were in need of the aids for the basic life such as housings and their children's private institute expenses. Finally, they required the repealing of an existing birthright system.

This study investigated female-head's employment and household economic status of the single-mother households compared to those in the two-parent households using the data from the Korean Labor and Income Panel Study. Major findings are: first, female-heads showed lower educational attainment, lower labor force participation rate, lower occupational status, and lower wage rates than male-heads; second, the level of household income was as 1.3 times as the Minimum Living Cost and the level of household expenditure was close to the Minimum Living Cost; third, one-thirds of single-mother households were in poverty. Based on the results, the implications to public policy were suggested.

The purpose of this study was to examine the social support network for divorced single mother families. The data were gathered through in-depth interviews with seven divorced single mothers who had at least one school-age child. Qualitative analysis of data showed that divorced single mothers evaluated themselves based on other people's perception. There were mainly three different kinds of self-images, which were “a competent divorced woman,” “a bad child to my parents,” and “a socially weak person.” We also found that there were two factors that influenced the everyday lives of single mothers: all of them .;offered hardships in living as a divorced woman with children, and they also had to deal with the weakened solidarity with family of origin, relatives, and neighbors. Single mothers shared common problems yet their lifestyles and adjustment strategies were diverse. Therefore, diverse social welfare policies for education and counseling for single mothers are urgently needed to support and empower divorced single mothers.